1,629 to 27,490
Between 2017 and 2023, the number of privately made firearms recovered in crimes surged 1,600%, from 1,629 to 27,490. Ghost guns, firearms without serial numbers assembled from kits or 3D printers, are untraceable by law enforcement. No background check is required to buy the parts. No record exists when they change hands.
92,702 ghost guns recovered from 2017-2023. Recoveries surged 1,600% in six years. No serial numbers. No background checks.
In total, 92,702 suspected ghost guns were recovered and reported to the ATF during that period. The number recovered in 2022-2023 alone (54,722) was 44% greater than the total recovered in the previous five years combined.
Ghost guns tripled from 6,000 to over 19,000 between 2019 and 2021 alone. The trajectory was clear.
The Rule That Would Have Helped
In 2022, the Justice Department issued a rule making ghost gun kits subject to the same regulations as traditional firearms. Manufacturers of “buy-build-shoot” kits had to serialize their products. Sellers had to conduct background checks. The kits could no longer be sold as unregulated parts that happened to assemble into a working gun.
The rule treated a ghost gun kit the way it functions, as a firearm, rather than the way it is marketed, as a collection of parts. The distinction matters because a person prohibited from buying a gun at a store could order a kit online, assemble it in an afternoon, and own an untraceable weapon with no background check.
When a Gun Has No Serial Number
When police recover a firearm at a crime scene, the serial number is how they trace it. Where it was manufactured. Who bought it. Where it was sold. When. Ghost guns have no serial number. The trace ends before it begins.
Law enforcement described the tracking as “spotty and inconsistent” even for the guns that are recovered. Many are never reported to the ATF. The 92,702 figure is a floor, not a ceiling.
The Context
Gun violence costs $557 billion per year. 60% of gun deaths are suicides with a 90% fatality rate. Red flag laws prevent 1 suicide for every 17 orders issued and prevented 58 potential mass shootings in California. The evidence for what works is clear.
Ghost guns represent the opposite direction. More firearms. Less traceability. No background checks. A 1,600% increase in recoveries. The rule that addressed it faces reversal from an administration that has dropped EPA enforcement by 87%, frozen SEC enforcement, and left the NLRB without a quorum for 345 days.
Read more on the Guns and Public Safety hub and the red flag laws brief.